


Day 4: Shopping for Gifts ft. Franticshipping

by Pippiuscattius



Series: Pippi's Holiday Shipping Challenge [4]
Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: 25 Day Holiday OTP Challenge, Awkward Kissing, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Christmas Shopping, F/M, Franticshipping - Freeform, I'm a writer dammit I use full words, Surprise Kissing, These two rly need to chill, Why am I using so many abbreviations, christmas gifts, like srsly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 11:03:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12982686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pippiuscattius/pseuds/Pippiuscattius
Summary: It's that time of year again in the Hoenn region, and Ruby and Sapphire are ready to buy their Christmas gifts. Except, because it's the two of them, of course they turn it into an overblown contest to prove who's the "Champion of Christmas."(Part of my 25 Day Holiday OTP challenge. Will feature multiple ships from multiple fandoms. These will all be quickly-written, silly drabbles so please don't judge them too harshly. UwU)





	Day 4: Shopping for Gifts ft. Franticshipping

**Author's Note:**

> Regrettably, it's been a while since I read the Pokemon Adventures manga, so I apologize if they're a bit OOC. This is set sometime after the Ruby & Sapphire series, so yes, it is after they confessed their love for each other and all that jazz. Take that as you will!

The Lilycove Department Store was always a hub of activity around Christmas time, packed full of trainers and avid shoppers on the hunt for the perfect gifts. Among those avid shoppers were Ruby and Sapphire, the pair of trainers staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the fully-stocked shelves. The store was decked out for Christmas and had outdone itself in terms of the wares it offered.

Decorations, cards, battling supplies, and more brightly- colored, Christmas-themed items for sale stretched as far as one could see. Ruby and Sapphire exchanged a glance, a competitive glint in their respective red and blue eyes.

“First one to find everything they need for their gifts wins?” Sapphire playfully challenged.

“Whoever wins will be crowned the champion of Christmas?” Ruby added, flipping on his goggles.

Showing off her canines, Sapphire nodded vigorously. With their challenge’s terms in place, the pair each grabbed a shopping basket and took off in opposite directions down the aisles of the store’s first floor, startling more than a few other shoppers as they sped past.

It seemed that everything between these two had to be a challenge, even such a simple matter as Christmas shopping. Each intended fully well to beat the other, scanning the shelves at breakneck speed and only stopping when they caught a glimpse of something promising.

Ruby’s first stop was the section for Pokémon accessories, hurriedly digging through the boxes of apparel and decorations for the ones he knew his Pokémon would love the most. He forced himself not to look at the wall of the most recently released fashion designs; wish as he might to at least take a peek at them, he was on a budget that they far exceeded. And besides, this was for his Pokémon, not himself.

“Let’s see…” he whispered to himself as he scoured the piled and hanging items. “Would these glasses look good on Nana? No, no, they’d fit Popo so much better… _oh_! These shades are just _marvelous_ , I have to get them for Nana…”

He slowly accumulated a selection of only the finest accessories he could find, including a bandana for his Swampert, a cute little tutu for his Delcatty, and a bottle of spray-on glitter to accentuate his Milotic’s scales. Just as he was about to speed off, he paused and swiped a set of blue pom-poms from a box, intending to gift them to his Plusle. His Pokémon were going to love these; and better yet, they’d serve them well in future contests!

Meanwhile, Sapphire had already ascended to the second floor, perusing the various Pokémon toys and treats available. She grabbed a few bags of berries to distribute to her team when Christmas arrived; though she wished she could feed them some direct from her garden, the onset of snowy weather had made maintaining her plants difficult. A few simple toys called to her as well, including a fireproof Pokédoll for her Blaziken and a feather on a stick for her Donphan to chase.

Sapphire beamed as she took off with her now half-full basket. Winning this would be a cinch. She was already ahead! Ruby could eat her dust as far as she was concerned.

By the time Ruby had reached the next floor, his basket was fuller, piled with a handful of plush Pokémon he knew his mother would enjoy (a Skitty, a Pichu, and a Swablu to keep her company while he was away). He could find no trace of Sapphire anywhere, and he couldn’t be sure if that was a good or a bad sign. Whether or not she was ahead, it hardly mattered; he already had gifts for his entire team and his mother. His father wasn’t really one for Christmas presents, and he was planning to just pay him a simple visit at his gym as a gift.

That left only…Sapphire herself. _Hmm._ What in Hoenn would a wild girl like her want, anyways?

Skimming the contents of the second floor, Ruby found nothing even remotely promising. There were plenty of battle supplies: all manner of potions, revives, and status items were on display. Not that any of those would be accepted by Sapphire. Though she was a highly-skilled battler, she outright refused the use of artificial healing methods.

“Such a forest hippie,” Ruby huffed to himself, heading towards the stairs to the third floor.

Said “forest hippie” was ascending the floors of the department store rapidly, using her innate speed from her time spent in the wild. Her Christmas list was basically all completed by the time she reached the top floor, having swiped a handful of fluffy tails for her father so that he would stop getting attacked by random wild Pokémon on his research expeditions.

“Yes!” she hissed out to herself, fist-bumping the air when she caught no sign of Ruby anywhere around her. She had gifts for her Pokemon, her father…that only left Ruby himself. What would that stuck-up city boy want?

Frowning to herself, Sapphire dashed for the elevator, knowing just the place to look back on the ground floor. A few other people stepped in alongside her, visibly intimidated by Sapphire’s impatient, riled-up air. As soon as the door slid open, she bolted.

It took her a minute to find what she was looking for, but she wasted no time upon locating it. The contest accessories aisle smelled of the pungent odor of fabric and plastic. Sapphire’s nose scrunched up, but she pressed on. This was for Ruby, she reminded herself. Her hypersensitive nose would just have to deal with it.

“Ah-ha!” she called when she found precisely the item she sought. One tall wall of hooks and shelves was entirely full of the latest contest fashion trends, and there was one item in particular that Ruby hadn’t shut up about for weeks leading up to its release. It was essentially a large contest toolkit full of the essential items from the latest collection, and according to him, any contest competitor who was _anyone_ would have one.

Sapphire had always shaken her head whenever he brought it up. She could never fully understand Pokemon contest mentality.

Squinting up at the toolkit where it rested on the top shelf, Sapphire flexed her fingers in preparation and abruptly leaped, clinging to any handholds she could find. Several other trainers in the aisle looked up in astonishment as she scaled the display, taking ahold of the toolbox as soon as it was within reach and agilely leaping back down unharmed.

She didn’t have time to address the stares that stayed glued to her after her stunt, rushing as fast as her legs would push her towards the checkout line. This game was hers, she was gonna win!

Ruby was oblivious to his imminent defeat, darting in and out of aisles on the fourth floor. There had to be something here that Sapphire would really enjoy…he wracked his brain to remember something, anything, that Sapphire had expressed wanting recently.

Then, it clicked: Sapphire had been lamenting over her inability to keep her garden thriving in the unexpectedly harsh winter season. Though Ruby didn’t know enough about gardening to buy anything to help her garden, he did know about an item that could at least temporarily replace it.

Sure enough, in the gardening section on floor four, a selection of berry pots was on display. Ruby grabbed a mixed pack with several varieties and then took off for the checkout. He forewent the elevator, deciding that the stairs would be faster, and ran back to the bottom floor until his legs were burning.

Despite his best efforts, it was too late to change the outcome by then. Waiting for him at the edge of the checkout counter was Sapphire with a full basket and smug grin on her face.

“You’re a bit late, ain’tcha?” Sapphire flashed her teeth.

“N-no!” Ruby groaned. “But I…how could you have…”

“Can’t keep up with a forest girl, huh?” Sapphire teased. “Don’t take it too hard. I’m used to running around a maze of trees. This was the same, ‘cept instead of trees I had to avoid shoppers and shelves.”

Ruby sighed in defeat. “Alright, I guess you beat me fair and square…” he trailed off, looking over his basket’s contents. At least he got everything he needed…

Except…

“Wrapping paper!” Ruby realized. “I forgot wrapping paper!”

Before Sapphire could humiliate him any further, Ruby ran off to where he’d seen rolls of vibrant wrapping paper in his earlier scanning.

“Wait…” Sapphire peered into her own basket. “Aw, nuts! I forgot wrapping paper too!”

She abandoned her spot at the counter and pursued Ruby. She pushed herself to overtake him, but he had a considerable head start. All the same she just about managed to break even with him by the time they reached the bin of plastic-wrapped rolls of paper, each of them grabbing one at random and spinning on their heels back towards the checkout.

They were neck and neck, Sapphire just barely pulling ahead despite Ruby pushing himself harder than he had the entire contest. If it wasn’t for a stray shopper crossing Sapphire’s path and forcing her to stumble around them, she might have actually won. As it was, both competitors returned to the counter at the exact same moment, simultaneously slamming down their rolls of Christmas paper.

The two were breathing hard and staring each other down. A cashier behind the counter watched them with concern, coughing to get their attention.

“You gonna buy all that, or…?” he hesitantly asked, shrinking under their intense stares.

Ruby softened and exhaled. “Yeah, we’re buying it all.” He turned back to Ruby with a nervous grin. “I…guess we tied, then.”

Blue eyes glaring, Sapphire protested, “That’s not fair! I so would have won if not for the wrapping paper!”

“Rules are rules,” Ruby calmly insisted. “You said ‘first one to find everything they need for their gifts wins.’ Pretty sure wrapping paper is a necessary part of gift-giving. We are officially _both_ the champions of Christmas.”

Growling low in her throat, Sapphire ground her teeth. She knew he was right, but she just really, _really_ did not want to admit it. Still, a tie was better than outright losing, she supposed.

The cashier started ringing up each of their items. Ruby flinched when he removed the berry pots from his basket, completely forgetting that Sapphire would see them.

And see them she did. “Who’s the berry pots for?” she asked curiously.

Ruby blanked. “Um…my dad?”

“Your dad doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would be into gardening.”

Feeling sweat trickle down his collar, Ruby coughed up a nervous laugh. Sapphire looked borderline ecstatic as she considered another potential recipient for the gift.

“Is…is it for me?” she whispered in amazement.

Left without anything to hide behind, Ruby conceded, “Yeah, it’s…it’s for you. I heard you talking about your garden, and I-”

“Oh my gosh, they’re perfect!” Sapphire gushed, snatching the package.

“I…I still need to scan that,” the cashier said quietly.

“Ruby, you…” Sapphire shook her head. “Thank you. Now my Pokémon can have fresh berries all winter. I was so worried they wouldn’t have any…” 

Though normally she would never consider such a rash action, and certainly not in a public space, Sapphire leaned over and swiftly pecked Ruby on the cheek. Ruby’s face turned the same shade of the gemstone he was named for, rubbing at the tingling spot Sapphire had kissed and unable to look her in the eye. Though she probably should have felt awkward, Sapphire was still too upbeat about her gift and the thought Ruby had put into it to care.

“Guess I hafta show you what I got you, then,” Sapphire returned her gift to the cashier, who huffed and resumed scanning Ruby’s purchases.

Reaching into her basket, Sapphire presented the essential toolkit of contest accessories. She took almost too much satisfaction in the way Ruby’s face lit up.

“No way,” Ruby breathed out in awe. “You didn’t…”

“You wouldn’t shut up about it,” Sapphire turned away, a blush of her own staining her face. “So I figured if I got it for you, it might make you stop hollering about it every ten minutes.”

Gratitude unlike any other Sapphire had seen shone in Ruby’s eyes. “I don’t know what to say…my Pokémon are gonna win their next contest for sure now.” He fidgeted momentarily with the rim of his goggles, eventually opting to remove them.

Catching sight of Ruby’s resurging blush, Sapphire prodded, “What?”

Ruby’s answer came in the form of a rushed peck on her cheek, returning her gesture from earlier. Sapphire wasn’t sure what to say, so she just smiled and wrung her hands together, enjoying their exchanged smooches more than she’d ever let on.

“You two make a cute couple,” the cashier commented, moving on to Sapphire’s items.

Neither trainer had anything to say to that, turning their eyes towards the floor and not exchanging another word until they were out of the store with their bags of gifts.

After returning home, they both spent their evening wrapping up and labeling their purchases. The only items they didn’t bother to wrap were the gifts they got for each other. Each simply let the other take their gift to enjoy it before Christmas arrived, laughing and shoving each other as they playfully fought over the tape dispenser and scissors.

And if they happened to exchange a few more pecks over the course of the night, well, they could chalk it up to the roughhousing.

_Thus ends the fourth day of Christmas._


End file.
